Prince Philip accompanied The Queen on every international tour and also carried out overseas visits and engagements which supported his own interests and patronages. In 1956 Prince Philip undertook his first solo overseas tour, opening the Olympic Games in Melbourne before visiting the Antarctic. The artist Edward Seago joined him and painted views of the Antarctic. Seago also acted as an artistic mentor to Prince Philip, who had taken up painting after his marriage.

Prince Philip was a lifelong supporter of environmental conservation. Many of his travels and engagements from the 1960s onwards reflected this interest. Sir David Attenborough said of Prince Philip in 2021, ‘he was right there at the beginning at a time when conservation didn’t mean much to many people’.